Illuminated design set



Sept. 29, 1970 B. c. MEYER ILLUMINATED DESIGN SET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 13, 1968 "'"lunnunu nnunnld lum'm'lld mvamon 1 AT RNEY p 1970 B. c. MEYER ILLUMINATED DESIGN SET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed may 13. 1968 R Q T N E V N EUPTOA/CMEYiP United States Patent 3,530,615 ILLUMINATED DESIGN SET Burton C. Meyer, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Marvin Glass & Associates, Chicago, 11]., a partnership Filed May 13, 1968, Ser. No. 728,488 Int. Cl. A63h 33/00 US. Cl. 4616 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy for creating illuminated designs and means for providing the illusion of motion to the designs including a housing with a light source therein, a pair of perforated sheets and an intermediate grid disposed in covering relation to a front Opening in the housing, and a plurality of translucent pegs adapted to be inserted in the front perforated sheet and the grid. The rear perforated sheet is movable to permit light to be transmitted through alternate openings in the grid and front sheet and thereby alternately transmit light to adjacent pegs in the front sheet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Means for providing changeable illuminated designs have been in use for some time, particularly in advertising displays. The present invention is particularly directed to a design set which enables a child to produce either a predetermined design or a design of the childs choice, wherein the design is illuminated and the illusion of motion for the design can be effected by simply moving a lever.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A design set for creating illuminated designs and providing the illusion of motion to the design, comprising a housing including a source of light and having an enlarged opening opposite the light, a first perforated plate positioned in covering relation to the opening and movable in its plane, a cellular grid structure superposed over said first plate, an opaque, frangible sheet covering said grid structure, a second perforated plate disposed over said opaque sheet, and a plurality of translucent pegs adapted to be inserted in the openings in said second plate in penetrating relation to the opaque sheet and the grid structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the design set;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front plan view of the design set with parts broken away;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken generally along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the translucent pegs;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the design set with parts broken away;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view, similar to FIG. 4 With translucent pegs added; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary, side elevational view of the panel positioning means seen also in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference particularly to FIGS. l-3 of the drawings, it is seen that the selected embodiment of this invention comprises a generally concave housing 10 having an enlarged opening across the front portion thereof and including a light source 12. Removably mounted within the front opening are a pair of perforated plates 14 and Patented Sept. 29, 1970 r'ce 16 separated by a grid structure 18. A sheet of frangible opaque material 20, such as black paper, is disposed between the grid 18 and the front plate 14, and a plurality of translucent pegs 22 are positioned as desired by inserting them in the openings 24 of the front plate, so that a portion of each peg pierces the opaque sheet 20 and is disposed within a cell 26 of the grid 18 while an enlarged end portion remains exposed at the front of the housing. Due to the structural relationship of the perforated sheets 14 and 16 and the grid 18, the light from the lightbulb source 12 is transmitted through certain ones of the translucent pegs when the movable rear perforated sheet 16 is in a lower position. Upon raising the rear sheet 16, by means of a lever 28, the light is then transmitted through certain other of the translucent pegs. Consequently the raising and lowering of the rear perforated sheet provides an illusion of movement of the light transmitted through the pegs and an accompanying movement of the design formed by the pegs.

More particularly, the housing 10 is formed of metal but may be of plastic or other suitable material, and a conventional light socket 30 is provided with an electric cord 32 and plug 34, which is adapted to be received by a conventional wall socket in the home. The lightbulb 12 is received in the socket 30 at a position to the rear and generally centrally of the housing 10. A pair of ribs 36 or the like are preferably formed with, or attached to, the housing to provide means for supporting the housing on a plane surface such as a table. The rear Wall portions 38 of the housing 10 are preferably provided with a plurality of openings 40 therethrough for escapement of the heat produced by the bulb. In this respect, the inner Wall surfaces of the housing are preferably provided with a light reflecting surface of coating material, such as white paint, metal foil or the like, so as to amplify or reflect the light produced by the bulb and thereby reduce the wattage of the bulb required.

The marginal edge portions of the housing 10, which define the front opening are suitably formed with ledges 42, 44 46 and 48 around all four sides to supportingly receive sheet material in closing or covering relation to the opening. In the illustrated embodiment, the opening is covered by a first perforated sheet or panel 16, which may be of plastic or other suitable material and having a width generally conforming with that defined by the ledges 42, 46 and having a depth or height which is less than that defined by the top and bottom ledges 44 and 48. Thus, as seen particularly in FIG. 3, the rear per- 'forated sheet 16 is adapted to be shifted vertically a relatively short distance, indicated at a, for reasons to be explained later.

Overlying the rear perforated sheet 16 is the cellular or grid structure 18 having a length and Width such that it nests closely within the edges defining the housing opening and is supported by ledges 42, 44, 46 and 48. This grid is removably fixed in position by a pair of screws 50 (FIG. 8) or the like, which extend through openings 60 in tab portions 62 formed on the opposite sides of the grid 18 and through aligned openings 64 formed in bosses 66 on the opposite sides of the housing 10. A notch 68 is formed on each side of the housing for locating and receiving the tab portions 62. The rear perforated sheet 16 and the grid structure 18 are normally retained in position on the housing and need only be removed for access to the bulb 12 in order to replace the latter.

A sheet of frangible opaque material 20, such as black construction or drawing paper, is placed across the front of the grid 13 and in turn is covered by the removable front perforated plate 14. The sheet 20* may be printed with a code, such as numbers, colors, etc. which are viewable through the openings 24 in the front perforated sheet, in

order to provide instructions for insertion of particular translucent pegs to achieve a predetermined design. The translucent pegs 22 are preferably of plastic and in various colors. One end 70' of each peg is of a reduced diameter and terminates in a cone 72. The opposite end 74 of the peg is preferably rounded and enlarged. The reduced end portion 70 conforms closely with the size of the openings 24 in the front plate 14, and the length of such portion is such that it projects into the grid 18 substantially the entire depth thereof (FIG. 7). The cone shaped end 72 of each peg 22 and the proximity of such end to the light source within the housing serves to provide for a maximum of transmission of light to the exposed outer end 74 of the peg. It will be noted that the openings 24 in the front perforated sheet 14, the cells 26 in the grid structure 18, and the openings 76 in the rear perforated sheet 16 are aligned vertically and horizontally. Further, the center of each opening 24 in the front perforated sheet 14 is aligned with the center of one of the square cells 26 in the grid structure 1 8. However, it will also be noted that the openings 76 in the rear perforated sheet 16 are double spaced horizontally with respect to the openings 24 in the front perforated sheet 14. That is, openings 7-6 in rear sheet are aligned horizontally with every other opening 24 in front sheet 14. As seen particularly in FIGS. 4 and 7, this arrangement provides for blocking off alternate cells 26 from the light source, so that in either position of the rear perforated sheet 16 the light from the bulb is transmitted only through every other cell 26 and aligned opening 24 in the front sheet 14. Consequently, by proper placement of translucent pegs 22 and by repeatedly shifting the rear sheet 16 up and down, alternate sets of pegs are illuminated to provide the illusion of motion to the design.

The described movement of the rear perforated sheet 16 is achieved through the lever 28, which is seen particularly in FIG. 4 and which includes a portion 80 projecting from the front of the housing 10. The lever 28 is disposed in pivotal relation to a pair of flanges 82 formed at the bottom of the housing, and includes a vertically extending rearward portion 84 having an opening 86 therein for en gaging a pin 88 fixed to the rear of the perforated plate 16. An intermediate portion of lever 28' is provided with a boss 90 or the like for guidedly engaging a forward edge 92 of an opening in the housing lower wall as seen in FIG. 4. Consequently, as lever 28 is depressed at the front, the engagement at the rear with the pin 88 effects elevation of the rear perforated plate 16 through the distance a (FIG. 3) to a position with the upper edge of such plate engaging the upper edge of the housing. Accompanying this upward shifting movement of the rear plate 16 is a movement of the openings 76 therein so as to provide for transmission of light through those cells in the grid 18 which were previously blocked off by the plate 16. Consequently, if two of the translucent pegs 22 are positioned in vertically adjacent openings 24 in the front plate 14, one of such pegs will be capable of transmitting light whereas the other peg will be dark when the rear plate 16 is in one of its two positions. The shifting of the plate vertically will result in a reversal of this situation, wherein the formerly dark peg will be illuminated and the formerly lighted peg will be dark. This is illustrated simply in FIG. 1, wherein the dark pegs 22a represent those positioned similarly to peg 22a in FIG. 7 and the light pegs 22b are those aligned with an opening 76 in the rear plate 16, as also seen in FIG. 7.

It will be apparent that proper alignment of the front plate 14, the grid 18, and the rear plate 16 are essential in order to produce satisfactory results with the described design set. In this respect, the rear plate 16 includes a pair of cut-out portions 94 along its top and bottom edges which are adapted to receive complementary bosses 96 formed along the top and bottom ledges 44 and 48. This arrangement will assure proper positioning of the rear plate 16 in both its raised and lowered positions.

With the described apparatus, designs may be made at random using either colorless or color pegs in any com bination thereof, or predetermined designs might be made as suggested previously. In the latter case, the sheets of paper 20 will have code markings thereon which appear through the openings 24 in the front panel 14 and the user will insert translucent pegs in accordance with such code markings.

The perforated sheets 14, 16 and grid 18 are of opaque material, in order to prevent light from passing therethrough except through the openings provided, and are preferably black molded plastic sheets.

Although shown and described with respect to particular apparatus and material it will be apparent that modifications might be made without departing from the principles of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A design set for creating illuminated designs comprising a generally enclosed housing having a source of light therein and an enlarged opening generally opposite the position of said light source, a first perforated plate positioned in covering relation to said opening and movable a relatively small distance in the plane of said plate, said first perforated plate is provided with a plurality of openings which are uniformly spaced and aligned diagonally of the plate, a grid structure positioned in superposed relation to said first plate, said grid structure comprises a plurality of cells having a substantial depth and aligned horizontally and vertically, said cells being uniformly spaced and arranged so that alternate cells both horizontally and vertically are each aligned with an opening in said first perforated plate, a sheet of generally opaque, frangible material disposed in covering relation to said grid structure, a second perforated plate positioned in superposed relation to said opaque sheet and including a plurality of openings axially aligned with each of the cells in said grid structure, and a plurality of translucent pegs adapted to be inserted in the openings in said second perforated plate in penetrating relation to said opaque sheet and said grid structure.

2. A design set in accordance with claim 1, including means connected with said first plate and having a portion projecting outwardly of said housing, whereby movement of said projecting portion produces movement of said first plate relative to said grid structure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,114,267 10/1914 Jones 40133 1,594,703 8/ 1926 Ballerini. 2,068,827 l/ 1937 Tompkins 40133 2,149,363 3/1959 Rivkin 4028 3,082,560 3/ 1963 Elvestrom 40137 FOREIGN PATENTS 502,853 7/1930 Germany.

ROBERT PESHOCK, Primary Examiner E. KRAUSE, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 40133 

